Project Mentor
Dr. Zehra Arat
Department: Political Science
Research Project Overview:
This summer apprenticeship will involve assisting a political science professor, who is also engaged in interdisciplinary fields of human rights and gender studies, in conducting research and drafting a conference paper, entitled “Between Human Rights and Neoliberalism: The UN’s Balancing Act.”
Both a product and a facilitating actor of globalization, the United Nations (UN) has been particularly important for the advancement of global human rights norms. As the Organization led us to a new era, “the Age of Rights,” another global shift involved the rise of neoliberalism. Neoliberal economic policies, promoted by major Western states and international financial agencies since the 1970s, are typically known as the structural adjustment policies (SAPs). While the negative human rights impact of SAPs is well documented, there is now an effort to reconcile neoliberal economic policies and business interests with human rights principles and demands. The paper focuses on the UN as an intergovernmental organization that is pulled in different directions by the rival global norms of human rights, the promotion of which is part of its mission, and neoliberalism, which is upheld by some wealthy member states and private contributors. Drawing attention to three key terms – “diversity and inclusion,” “multi-stakeholders,” and “public private partnership” – the paper analyzes the discourse of various UN documents and assesses the likely impacts of blending human rights discourse and neoliberal discourse on the realization/subversion of human rights goals.
The student assistant would have a chance to observe and participate in the research process, from the formulation and justification of a research question to the preparation of a polished conference paper.
Role of a SHARE Summer Apprentice:
The student will assist the faculty mostly by gathering literature and conducting reviews of the literature. The range of research activities will include:
- Attend training sessions
- Conduct library research to identify the relevant literature
- Read and summarize related literature
- Work on organizing the literature and arguments according to an outline
- Help draft papers
- Proofread and edit draft papers
- Prepare and edit bibliographies
- Perform miscellaneous duties as directed
The student assistant is expected to learn about the UN, human rights, neoliberalism, broadly, as well as a particular way of connecting these three from a critical perspective. The student will also gain research experience and skills in the following areas: Formulating a research question; identifying relevant literature; writing an informative and well-organized literature review; gathering and organizing qualitative data; being able to separate literature review from original analyses; organizing a research paper; and following citation rules properly.
Summer Schedule/Time Commitment:
I would like the apprentice to start in mid-May and continue until the end of August by investing about 10hrs/wk. However, the hours will be flexible. We may skip some weeks due to other obligations and vacation breaks.
Preferred Qualifications:
I do not expect the student to have any course work or background on the research topic, as I will train them. However, students must
- have broad interest in international relations, political economy, and especially human rights, since this is essentially a human rights project; though, some background on these subjects would be preferable
- have some experience in conducting library research (finding relevant sources)
- have well-developed reading comprehension skills
- be enthusiastic, punctual, reliable, tenacious, and attentive to details.
To Apply:
The application is closed.